VP or not VP: Is ‘Eau de Newt’ a key ingredient in T-Paw’s GOP love potion?

The byline on the Strib’s Commentary page today reads, “By Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty.” And that’s the most interesting part of the op-ed, which revisits ground Newt and Tim covered last fall when Gingrich introduced fellow government shutdown vet Pawlenty for a horn-tooting keynote speech at Gingrich’s Center for Health Transformation.

So why now? Their column opens with a weak play for timeliness, keying off this month’s announcement that the U.S. Census Bureau won’t take its 2010 head-counting high tech after all. (Census-takers will use pencil and paper — unlike Minnesota’s clinics and hospitals, many of which already use electronic medical records, ahead of a state-mandated deadline of 2015.)  But the op-ed’s timing more likely has to do with Gingrich burnishing Pawlenty’s conservative sheen. With the veepstakes in full swing, Eau de Newt may be just the ingredient Pawlenty needs for a Love Potion Number 9 (er, make that 45) that he can use to romance John McCain for a spot on the ticket. Rubbed-off gravitas from GOP elder Gingrich, who wetted a toe early in this Republican presidential race, could help Pawlenty with people who are giving him a first or second look and pondering whether he’s ready to be president.

As a co-author, Gingrich is known best for the novels he has written with William R. Forstchen in the genre of speculative historical fiction, in which a single decision, made differently, alters the course of real events such as the Civil War or World War II. Here’s a thought experiment: What if Gingrich, as a member of Congress 15 years ago, hadn’t stymied Bill and Hillary Clinton’s efforts to reform health care? Maybe today we’d have 300 million Americans with health insurance — and one fewer op-ed.